Chapter 129: The Iron Wire Gu

Though I’d gained a slight upper hand by sensing her aura and surprised Bai Yue a little, I didn’t underestimate her at all.
On the contrary, I admired her even more.

Before, everyone said Bai Yue was strong.
I’d seen it with my own eyes—how strong she truly was, what she could do.
But I still lacked a real sense of her limits.

Through the gu insects she’d just introduced, I finally gained a clear understanding.
Bai Yue’s strength was all-encompassing.
Her gu insects were incredibly diverse, with all sorts of miraculous abilities that dazzled the eye.
Their versatility covered every field—truly powerful without any blind spots.

And the gu insects she’d shown were only a small portion of her dozen or so fourth-grade ones.
She still had countless first-, second-, and third-grade gu insects.
It was easy to imagine how terrifying she’d be if she fought seriously.

“Senior Sister Xia, this Jade House Guard is yours now.
First, feed it your blood to raise it to fifth grade.
Then let it swallow Senior Sister Ou Zhiqing’s blood, and it’ll obey her.
If you have questions, just ask me.”

Bai Yue handed over the snow-white gecko.

The Jade House Guard resiliently crawled onto my hand.
This crystalline white gecko did look quite cute.
Among this pile of horrifying gu insects, it was at least one that wouldn’t scare a girl.
I decided—this would be my gift to Xiao Qing.

“Sorry, Senior Sister Xia.
I promised you two fourth-grade gu insects in exchange, but now I’m only giving you one third-grade.
How about you pick another third-grade gu insect?”
Bai Yue said, a bit embarrassed.

“No need. This gecko is enough.
Senior Sister Mo isn’t here anyway—no need to stick strictly to equivalent exchange.
Or rather, as long as we both feel it’s fair, that’s fine.”
I replied.

“Really? Okay then.”
Bai Yue said, surprised.
In her view, even trading two third-grade gu insects for one fourth-grade would be her getting the huge advantage.
Third- and fourth-grade gu insects were on completely different levels.

“Then Senior Sister Xia, pick another fourth-grade gu insect.
Don’t hold back—anything except the Dragon Gu.”
Bai Yue said enthusiastically.
She knew that building a good relationship meant a steady supply of Hidden Yin Body blood in the future.

“Mm, recommend one for me this time.
I need one that can protect my life—similar requirements to the Jade House Guard.
Do you have anything like that?”
I asked.

Bai Yue thought for a moment before saying, “I do have some, but Senior Sister Xia, I actually think you should choose a more offensive gu insect right now.”

“Huh? Why?”
I asked.
I’d always thought survival was most important, but both Mo Qingyan and Bai Yue seemed to prioritize attack.

“In defense, you already have that jade pendant to protect you.
But if you can’t drive ghosts away, they’ll keep haunting you relentlessly.
Defense only buys time and opportunity for offense.
Without repelling the ghosts, no matter how strong your defense, you’ll eventually be worn down and killed.”
Bai Yue explained.

Moreover, with a murderer and that stitched freak in this complex, if people like them came at you with knives, only attacking gu insects could drive them off.
Pure retreat wouldn’t work.

Her words immediately enlightened me.
I recalled the Painted Skin Ghost’s repeated pursuits—three, four, five times chasing me to kill.
Each time, Xiao Qing, Mo Qingyan, or Yi Zhiqiu had wounded or even killed it to free me from danger.
Otherwise, it would never have withdrawn easily.

Passive defense would only let those ghosts grind me down slowly.
Offense was the best defense.
Realizing this, I said, “Alright, I’ll listen to you, Xiao Yue.
Pick a combat-capable gu insect for me.
Of course, the requirement is still—don’t make it too disgusting.”

“I have one here—the Iron Wire Gu.
It might suit your current situation.”
Bai Yue released a withered yellow mantis from the silver orb.
It didn’t look anything like something called “Iron Wire Gu.”

But then Bai Yue clapped her hands.
The mantis twitched a few times, its belly suddenly bursting open.
Several black tendrils sprang out, writhing constantly.
So the mantis was just a host—the mass inside was the real Iron Wire Gu.

The tendrils were black-brown, tangled together, thin and long.
When they writhed and spread, they truly resembled bent iron wires.
It was hard to believe such a large mass had fit inside the mantis’s belly.

“This… is the Iron Wire Gu?
What can they do?”
I asked.
Truthfully, I still found this clump of black threads a bit creepy, but far better than the insects.

“Just as I said, they’re pure attack-type gu insects.
If you need a demonstration… hm, do you still want that iron wok, Senior Sister Xia?”
Bai Yue pointed to a wok in the kitchen.

It was left by the previous owner—a slightly rusted iron wok.
I said, “No need. Do whatever you want with it.”

Bai Yue extended her hand toward the black threads.
The Iron Wire Gu automatically burrowed into her finger.
It looked painful enough to make my own fingers ache, but Bai Yue seemed unfazed.

Once the Iron Wire Gu had fully entered and vanished, Bai Yue suddenly raised her hand.
Three black threads shot from her finger, striking the kitchen wok.

The three iron wires pierced straight through the wok, then dragged it over to us.
The distance was at least five meters.

Next, the three iron wires whipped around wildly like long lashes.
To my stunned shock, the wok shattered into four pieces, then was sliced into countless fragments that scattered across the floor.

“Hiss!”
I sucked in a cold breath.
The Iron Wire Gu’s power far exceeded my imagination.
My previous understanding of gu insects had been too conservative.
A wok that would take an electric saw ages to cut through was no different from tofu before the Iron Wire Gu.

“Remote penetration range is about eight meters.
Effective cutting distance is within three meters.
In that range, the Iron Wire Gu is indestructible—it can easily pierce security doors, safes, bulletproof vests.
Human bodies or spirits are no obstacle.”
Bai Yue said proudly.

“Amazing! Really powerful.
But… does it have to parasitize the hand to use?”
I watched the Iron Wire Gu slither out of Bai Yue’s finger, still twitching.
It gave me the creeps.

“No need. You can wrap it around your hand.
But if parasitized in the hand, like the Mottled Mosquito Gu, it can absorb the target’s vitality to nourish the master.
Same drawback too—can’t absorb tainted vitality.”
Bai Yue said, expelling the Iron Wire Gu.
It coiled into a clump on her palm—quite portable.

“Good. This one it is.”
I nodded.
The Iron Wire Gu had convinced me with its raw power.
And relatively speaking, it wasn’t that disgusting.